Hissoriyoru Hime: Silent Night
by watchingpaintdry
Summary: Freedom to choose. Life or Death, Black or White, Good or Bad. To cast a pebble into the pond and have no shadow. How far will you go? For the Ones you Love? For Power? For Glory? For the right to Decide?
1. Pressure of the Changing Winds

X-X-X-X-X

"Hime-sama." several seconds passed in complete silence, before her coal black eyes slowly opened.

"Yes?"

"The Elders which to speak with you." a soft sigh from behind the curtain, then the rustle of fabric as she stood, her heavy court robes a constant weight on her shoulders. A constant reminder of her 'responsibilities'."

"I will be there shortly." she said, turning to the window.

"My deepest apologies, Hime-sama, but the Elders insisted..."

"I said I would be there shortly, Hogosha." she said, voice clipped and icy.

He decided not to push the issue, instead lowering his head to touch the floor before disappearing.

She sighed softly when she felt him leave, eyes opening to the setting sun. Standing before the massive shoji doors, her body was thrown into harsh profile against the silk curtains hiding her from the prying eyes of her guards. Reiatsu outside her windows allowed her to see out, but kept her invisible to anyone passing by.

She tugged her kimono a little tighter against an imaginary chill, before stealing herself and turning, lifting the veil from it's place by the curtain and lowering to over her face as she moved the silk aside.

Her guards materialized in an instant. Four former-captains of Sereitai who had, upon being promoted to the Zero division, been hand selected to undergo a very special training regime. Those who excelled had been entrusted with her life, and, coincidently, possibly with the life of the future ruler of Soul Society.

She resisted the urge to sigh again, her veil concealing her features from passersby as she swept from her chambers, heading towards the East Wing.

This latest request of her presence by the Elders was most likely another attempt at coaxing her into marriage, something she had been blatantly opposing for a long time.

However, due to the recent attacks by Sosuke Aizen, the Elder's seemed far more insistent than usual on finding her an appropriate husband.

It wasn't that she had no desire to marry, but she flatly refused to be married to someone who she couldn't stand.

So far, the Elders had offered her nothing more than a handful of snotty nobles, all with heads so bloated from self-importance that they couldn't pay any attention to the people around them.

'So what will it be this time?" she wondered.

X-X-X-X-X

"Ah, Hime-sama." The Elder's seemed a little too happy to see her, which immediately put her on edge. She only nodded in greeting. It would have been more polite to speak, but she was growing tired of this little charade.

Seeming to guess that she wasn't going to humor them with a verbal response, one of the Elder's spoke.

"We were overjoyed, Hime-sama, at hearing that the campaign against Aizen is going so well." he began, smiling kindly. She remained silent.

"As you seem to be in a hurry, Hime-sama, we shall bring around the topic we wished to discuss with you." said another, after a brief pause. She nodded.

"We would, once again like to re-open the discussion on finding you a proper husband, Hime-sama." said a third Elder.

"I'm listening." she said quietly, voice neither encouraging or discouraging. She had learned, at a very early age, that sometimes the most effective means to resolve a conflict were to remain as quiet as possible. People seemed to lose steam pretty quickly when the person they were yelling at didn't respond.

"Ah, well, we thought that maybe, now that you had thought about the matter a little more, you would reconsider Juusuke-sama." piped up the first Elder. She grimaced behind her veil.

"No."

"But, Hime-sama, Juusuke-sama is a highly respected man..." began another.

"He already has a fiefdom of his own to look after, and, last time I checked, a fiance. Not to mention that we are cousins." she said. Another pause fell over the room, and this time she let her sigh be heard.

"Once you have found a suitable candidate, I will consider him. Until then, do not continue to badger me with these tedious and time consuming arguments." she said, the finality in her tone evident.

One of the Elder's sighed as well, looking down his nose at her. She instantly bristled in defense. This one...

"Hime-sama, we understand your anxiety at the prospect of undergoing such a life altering experience. However, I would like to remind you of your...uh...situation." he paused for the effect of his words to take hold, then continued.

"We've discussed the matter thoroughly, and I am sorry to inform you that if you do not choose a husband within the next three months time, we will make the decision for you."

X-X-X-X-X

If she had been a lesser woman, she would have thrown a temper tantrum. If she had been the prissy little girl those slime-ball Elders seemed to think she was, then she would have melted down and cried. If she had been anyone other than herself, she would have run to her father.

She forcibly shook the last thought from her head, making her veil flutter.

Servants and guards hurried to be anywhere other than in her way, scattering before her anger like leaves before the wind.

Upon arriving back at her quarters, she removed the veil before stepping behind the curtain, sweeping them back to reveal the half of the room that was her own.

She threw the veil almost angrily onto it's stand, fighting for the control necessary to retain her composure.

"My lady?" came a soft voice from behind her. She turned to see one of her guards, the only woman and one of her only friends, standing behind her, smiling gently.

She sighed forcibly, shaking her head as she gathered her skirts and dropped unceremoniously onto a cushion.

"What am I going to do, Kiri? Damn Elders and their high and mighty attitude. Where do they get off telling me what I will and will not do?" she grumbled.

Kiri chuckled, before setting the tray she had been holding down beside her, taking a seat on the other side of the princess. The other three, Natsu, Tenki, and Hebun, all took seats farther away from the princess, but in closer proximity than the Elder's would have no doubt thought proper.

She glanced at the tray, sighing as she took one of the cups of tea and passed the others to Natsu.

"What now, my lady?" asked Tenki, dark eyes alert to even the slightest movement, though they remained firmly set on his tea.

She sighed.

"I'm going to Sereitai."

X-X-X-X-X

"Are you sure this is the best course of action, Hime-sama?" asked Hebun, speaking up for the first time.

She glanced behind her, dark eyes settling on the blonde man's outline through the curtains. She smiled, lips quirking up at the edges.

"Those bastards believe that by forcing my hand, they will be able to more easily manipulate me into marrying a man of their choosing. What they don't take into account is that I, like my siblings, are all well aware of the situation, and our roles in it. If it's a choice of having a man chosen for me, or choosing one myself, then I'd rather have the latter.

With that, she turned back to Kiri, who was helping her strip off the many layers of her formal kimono in order to change into the much simpler shihakusho of a soul reaper.

"Hime-sama, what are the chances of you finding a suitable individual in Sereitai with even a drop of noble blood in him? Besides that, what are the odds of finding such a man unattached?" asked Natsu, his back, like Tenki and Hebun's, turned to the silk curtains.

She gave a breathy chuckle.

"It shouldn't matter. As long as I approve of him, Father won't mind."

X-X-X-X-X

Hogosha - Protector/Guardian

Juu (from Juusuke) - 10

Natsu - Summer

Tenki - Sky Chronicle

Hebun - Heaven

Kiri refers to her full name, Kirio Hikifune, who left Soul Society to join the Zero division shortly before the Turn Back the Pendulum ark. Her name can have several meanings, as Kiri can be read as fog/mist, Paulownia tree, or as drill/auger.


	2. What It's Like to Walk Backwards

X-X-X-X-X

"Welcome to 4th division, Yamayake-san." Retsu Unohana smiled disarmingly at the newest member of her division, a small woman with long, strawberry blonde hair and dark-brown eyes.

"Thank you very much, Unohana Taicho. I look forward to working with you."

Unohana smiled. They were getting off to a good start.

X-X-X-X-X

"You're the new 7th seat?" asked Renji, glancing up from his paperwork to give the woman on the other side of his desk a quick once over.

She was dressed in a standard issue Shihakusho, though the sash at her waist was a dark blue instead of white. She had chin-length, choppy white hair, dark, charcoal colored eyes, and an open, friendly smile.

"Hai, Abarai Fukutaicho." she said, smiling that disarmingly innocent smile again. Renji gulped, then pointed towards the doors to Byakuya's office.

"Go get your marching orders from Captain Kuchiki. And welcome to 6th company." he said, waving slightly. She nodded and headed towards the indicated office, when Renji called after her.

"Hey, what's your name?" he asked. She turned back to him, a grin spreading across her face.

"Amaya. Amaya Izumi."

X-X-X-X-X

"Please move, I need to speak to the Captain."

"You can settle for talking to us, buddy." snapped Ikkaku, glaring at the burly man in the doorway. He wasn't just tall, but he was wide, too. That, in no way, shape, or form, suggested that he was fat. On the contrary, Ikkaku could see a mass of solid muscle rippling underneath the man's shihakusho.

"Enough, Roku." said a sudden voice from the shadows the doorway. Both Ikkaku and Yumichika jumped, as the speaker was out of their range of sight and they hadn't managed to sense his reiatsu at all.

A thin man with dark brown hair stepped up beside the blonde currently blocking out the sun, and inclined his head graciously to them.

"Greetings, I am Kin Ookami and this is Roku Bohyou. We were recently assigned to the 11th division and wish to speak with the Captain regarding our orders." he said, his voice smooth and calm.

Both Ikkaku and Yumichika blinked at the strange pair, when suddenly, from out of nowhere, a blinding ball of pink collided with the back of Ikakku's head.

"Let them IIINNN, BALDY!!!! Kenny wants to see his newest victims!!!" Yachiru looked up at the two new shinigami from atop a sprawled out Ikkaku. She beamed at them, grabbed onto their arms, and proceeded to drag them from the room.

"He wants to know if it's worth fighting you two." she said bluntly as she led them away.

X-X-X-X-X

Yamayake - Mountain/Bush fire

Amaya - Night Rain

Izumi - Spring/Fountain

Kin - Gold

Ookami - Wolf

Roku - 6

Bohyou - Gravestone/marker


End file.
